Clach na h-Annait
an immense boulder of upright shape
this Annat Stone is a mystery,
here Brahn Seer prophesied:
the raven will drink his fill
of blood from the Stone
(Otta Swire)
Clach na h-Annait; poem AF, photograph EN
find Skye's southerly aspect
beneath the dusk-pink slopes
of Beinn Dearg Mhòr & Beinn na Caillich,
where Suardail’s limestones flourish
Kilbride’s lush greens
& the farm’s brown cows browse
between close birches
April splashes primrose pixels
among sheltered mossy stumps
& down by the burn
the stone at Clach na h-Annait's
a meadow pintle,
it absorbs you into
its subtle alignment
– but the entire glen
is feminine
from the tides of Camus Malag,
to the white manse of Kilbride;
from the hill of shades, Beinn an Dubhaich,
to the summit of the Cailliach
the little burns & rock clefts
invite you to descend into a demesne
sacred to Anaitis, first
& forgotten goddess
Clach na h-Annait (Grid ref: NG52SE 2). Site records for the standing stone are available on RCAHMS.
The stone is named after the goddess Anaitis, who became the presiding deity for A Company of
Mountains, and whose mythology is described in more detail below and in the guide for Dùn Beag. The
account is mythopoetic and, while it is firmly based on the specific facts of the archaeological records,
the speculative aspect represents my own view, in a project that collages together many views. The
epigraph is from Otta Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends (1952). The dominant peaks of the red
Cuillin behind Kilbride are Beinn Dearg Mhòr, Big Red Peak, and Beinn na Caillich, Peak of the Crone,
whose name relate to the Anaitis myth, figuring as Winter to Anaitis spring, identified with Artemis &
St Brighid (St Bride). The smaller hill of Beinn an Dubhaich, Mountain of Shades, is the site of Anaitis
temple-cave, Uamh An Ard Achadh, High Pasture Cave. She has two temples on the Isle of Skye: the
second, by River Bay, is described in the guide to Dùn Beag. Continue down the track from the manse
to Camus Malag, Norse Mála-vik, Bay of Measure, or (more poetically) Speech Cove.
Clach na h-Annait; poem & photograph AF Tobhar na h-Annait
A N A I T I S
A R T E M I S
B R I G H I D
waters meet at the well of fertility,
confluence of 3 goddesses
hid under the bog’s veil of secrecy
3 times I searched for the source,
but, like a horse, I had to be led
from the stone to water
the revenant ruins of Cille-Bhrìghde
have been neatly stashed
within groves of ash;
the church's old bronze bell
buried in the old style, below
Clach na h-Annait
words that kill; poem & photograph AFthe stippled trunks of a hazel copse
hid the iron-fisted evangelist, Colum Cille,
who slew a wild boar
with such terrible power
as his speech released
words that heal
words that kill
this wild-wood fable throws a shroud
over Xtian dominion
holy writ christened the sacred well;
holy law banished the shamanic boar cult
of the folk on the hill
the sacred boar of Uamh An Ard Achadh,
killed by Colum Cille,
resurrected on the shield of Clan MacKinnon,
carved on a keystone
in Cille-Chrìosd
Tobhar na h-Annait (Grid ref: NG52SE 2). Site records for the well are available on RCAHMS.
This viewpoint is so rich that it required two viewpoints; Anaitis domain stretches from the first
viewpoint – the standing stone Clach na h-Annait, and well Tobar na h-Annait – to the second
viewpoint, the shieling that conceals Uamh An Ard Achadh, High Pasture Cave, facing the summit
of Beinn na Caillich. On my third visit, Caroline Dear guided me to the well. Suardail, Grassy Glen.
Kilbride derives from Cille-Bhrìghde, Brighid or Bride's church, now a ruin, abandoned in favour
of Cille-Chrìosd, Christ Church, also now a ruin. Colum Cille, Columba, killed a wild boar here by
the power of his words. Ken Cockburn suggests this fable retells the conversion of the shamanic cult
of Anaitis, for excavations at High Pasture Cave revealed a horde of sacrificed pigs. This imperialist
reading of the effect of old Christianity is offset by Cockburn's suggestion that the earliest Gaelic
Christians dovetailed their spirituality with aspects of native pre-Christian lore, viewing the Druidic
past as a sort of 'Celtic Old Testament.' Columba overwrote his birth name, Cremthann, Wolf, to
Collum Cille, Dove – a translation echoing Cu-Chulainn, who changed his name from Setanta,
Knower of Ways, to Hound of Culann. Clan MacKinnon's shield includes a wild boar holding the
bone of a stag in its mouth; excavations at Cille-Chrìosd revealed a boar carving.
a christening
over
WOLF
writes
DOVE
alignment
poem & photograph, AF
walk up the knoll from the well
to the grove of ash, rowan
& hawthorn
by rising these few degrees
you become the aligning
of natural features;
now the manmade landmarks make sense,
the Rúm Cuillin finding their proper relation
to the grey digit of Annait,
stiff & smooth among buttercups;
no longer a stone, it's become
a topographical gnomon
looking from ‘the one’
makes the connection
between island & island
then the sightline pulls
through the stone,
penetrates through your mind
& out the back of your head
to Beinn na Caillich
Askival, photograph David ConnissTobar na h-Annait contains
a symbolic ratio
(stone) : (mountain)
from the hill the alignment reveals
the stone standing as a model
of the domed peak
A
S K
I V
A L
now the meadow becomes a rock garden,
Skye's temple of Ryoan-ji
the little knoll sees over
the screen of trees that protect the manse,
giving a westerly bearing:
from the tall pine
to the punctured pitch of the massif,
seen now in stark relief
Blà-bheinn, Bla Fjell of the Norse,
where shaggy juniper dig their roots
into the old summer pasturage
of Coire an Uaigneis,
Corrie of Secrets
I can see the skyline,
I can hear the mountain
as the water rushes down,
I can feel Blà-Bheinn’s
presence behind me
(Martin Wildgoose)
follow the tooth-bitten ridge
across to Garbh-bheinn & the glen of Strath Mor,
that is dividing Red from Black Cuillin
& joining the north & south coasts,
along a boggy path that winds the 4 miles
between Torrin & Luib
The buttercups in the meadow, buidheag an t-samhraidh; ash, uinnseann; rowan, caorann;
hawthorn, sgìtheach; pine, giuthas; juniper, aiteann. Strath Mor, Great Glen; Torrin, Na Torrain,
The Little Hills; An Lùib, The Bend; this path is a shortcut between the seas north & south, used
since the Mesolithic era, when the tides reached further inland. The photogrpah of Askival is by
Dave. Martin Wildgoose, archaeologist, described the atmosphere around High pasture Cave.
Ryoan-ji, the famous temple garden in Kyoto, composed of rock & sand; the rocks are said to
represent mountains. Roderick Watson's poem 'Bla Bheinn', below, comes from his collection
Into the Blue Wavelengths (Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2004).
Bla Bheinn
Like a door between the sky drifting
and everywhere you are: shifting
yellow light; ridge after ridge
of cloud and scree-run falls;
sgurr and rock in bands of glare
and heavy shadow; layer
on layer rising up
from the corrie in different hues
of stone and splintered light;
where granophyre gabbro dolerite
(sharp as axeheads and cinders
balanced on a narrow shelf)
slowly unlock the steady route
between space and our careful boots.
When we stepped through
the yellow haze
we saw another shore.
(Door upon door).
Roderick Watson
NAVSTAR
word-mntn (Blà-bheinn & Garbh-bheinn), poem AF; photograph, EN
we walk around the garden
opening a new connection
trying to find more band-
width for the wi-fi stream
looking up at the stars
I spot a satellite tracking
in and out of the dim
between bright constellations
lost in the lithic glen
the Ethernet defers
to the defining moon
and Blà-bheinn’s dark outline
everyone’s been saying
how it’s been years
since Venus & Jupiter
were seen so close together
The word-mntn photograph is taken from Torrin, a mile or so beyond Kilbride. The conjunction of
Venus and Jupiter (Bheunas, Lupatar) was viewed when Ken Cockburn & I stayed in the holiday
chalet at Kilbride, late April 2012.
Ken Cockburn, Kilbride Manse, AFAnaitis well
that mysterious Anait
whose Scythian name survives
in the Gaelic West, and nothing else
(Fiona Macleod)
Tobar na h-Annait, the well of Anaitis, photograph AF
a spring may release currents
of pure water, even if it bubbles up
in a bog
search in the cow meadow
beside the white shed,
where flag-iris unfurl,
for the millstone that circles
the sacred well,
dedicated to:
Annat Annait Anaitis
sacred to rivers & burns
Anaitis: source, stream of beliefs;
burn run underground
every people carries its faith with it;
ancient semitic tribes left the traces
of their goddess embedded in place-names
throughout Scotland
Alba-Anatolia
at Annat
at Annet
at Andat
at Anaid
at Annatland
at Anatiscruik
at Annotturis
at Annatstoun
at Annatfield
at Longannat
at Craigannet
at Ernanity
at Cleidh na h-Annait
at Coire na h-Annait
at Allt na h-Annait
to which we add the 4 known
Skye Anaitis
Teampall Annaitis
on the River Bay, Waternish
Camus na h-Annait
at Neist Point
Annat
on Staffin Island
Ach na h-Annaid
at Braes
& over the Minch, but visible from Skye,
the well of Annait on the blessed isles of Shiant,
& Teampull na h-Annaid on the isle of Killigray,
by Harris
old place-name surveys state:
‘Annait, from Irish: site of an old church’
translating the goddess of springs & Spring
into the baptismal tradition
of Brighid
The epigraph is from Fiona Macleod's Iona (1900). The flag-iris around the well are bog-uisge.
MacBain, in his Place names, Highlands & Islands of Scotland (1922) gives the derivation as
annone, church, from Hebrew; contemporary research suggests a linguistic connection with
Scythia and the ancient Persian goddess Anahita, divinity of waters and healing. The well at
Kilbride is associated with fertility. The list of Anaitis sites on Skye was compiled with the help of
Caroline Dear. Her book the colours of Skye offers another kind of overview of the island. The
trout is referred to by Martin Martin in A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland: 'I saw
a little Well in Kilbride ... with one Trout only in it; the Natives are very tender of it ... there is a
Rivulet not far distant from the Well, to which it hath probably had access thro some narrow
Passage.' The rivulet can still be seen.
the well: poem & photograph, AF
word-mntn (Beinn na Caillich)
trout
this little well was blessed
with its own trout,
swimming around & about,
which no-one would eat,
even if it got caught
in their bucket
Uamh An Ard Achadh, High Pasture Cave
word-mntn (Beinn na Caillich), rubber stamp circle poem; poems & photograph AF
High Pasture, a prosaic name that guides
our thoughts to the pastoral traditions
of transhumance
the old calendar drove May's herdsman
higher up the sheiling, to fresh pasture,
mending dykes & field-markers,
sheltering in the airigh from July’s
midges & rain
Anaitis, photograph GK
shafts of winter light pink the hoar
on Beinn na Caillich
the sun glints a ring over the garnet aureole
of Beinn an Dubhaich
Anaitis’s limbless riverworn form
was laid by the hazel burn,
into which bone-ash was cast
to wash from the cave down
the chthonic sink
poem AF, photograph CDafter the excavations, archaeologists
indexed their made things, technologies,
picturing folk in the roundhouses
working looms & querns,
leaving their offerings at the portals
of the underworld
awls
lithics
an antler tine
a fine bronze ring
soapstone spindle whorls
a host of slaughtered young pigs
carved saddle querns burnt by flame
copper & garnet, mined in the hush of the burn
a carved granite orb beside the disc of a beach stone
pilgrims’ quartz-pebble wishes, layered between crushed bone
the oak bridge of a lyre, knotted with 6 strings of fine horse-hair, gold or silver
bridge of the lyre, photograph George Kozikowski
poem & photograph AFthis dexterous culture of surplus
skillfully fashioned objects
then set them ablaze
these offerings were interred in subterranean caches,
to accompany a young woman of status
– priestess or princess – whose remains
tell us she enjoyed a rich diet,
& whose bones show her hands were kept
free from work
her corpse was laid on a willow bier
wrapped in a shroud of catkins;
white lilies at her breast,
red campion by her heart,
sprigs of holly for protection,
woven flora spelling the indivisible wisdom
of birth-life-death
what passing herbal high made her dying
the rite kind of ecstatic vision?
circle poem & photograph AF in these caves & sinks we come close to paradox;
knowledge remains out of reach,
obscure as peaty waters
the cave is sealed under the wooden trap;
sit by the birch & hazel of Coille Gaireallach
where the water flows into the passage;
close your eyes & listen, descending
lucidly into darkness with a vision
of rough stairs, reflected waters
& the weak gleam of bone
go on in your vision, until you reach the mouth
of the Bone Passage & the mound
of women’s ashes
now imagine the votive Anaitis stone
fulcrum of an enclosure
Her weather-sculpted vulva, labia, shapely pap,
sun-struck by rays that pierce
the frosty skyline of Imbolc
penetrating north in their seasonal insurrection
against the old crone, the hag, mountain-matriarch,
Cailleach Bheur, reinterred in her chambered tomb
on Beinn na Caillich
dolorous wisdom & eternal Spring
recur in the seasonal round
of the feminine glen
Archaeologists working at Uamh An Ard Achadh have created a fine website dedicated to the site.
The cave is closed to the public (Grid ref: NG 5943 1971). I am grateful to George Kozikowski for
the photograph of the votive stone Anaitis, found above the cave; the stone has since been removed
and will someday be returned. As well as the female genitalia of the stone, the cave contains a
labium rock form. Airigh, mountain hut; ruins of ancient airigh are scattered on the slopes around
the glen. For more information on the 2,300-year-old lyre see this video; in conversation, John Purser
suggested the possible materials that the strings would have been made from. The female body was
first left outside for birds to cleanse her flesh, then placed at the top of the stairs which lead down to
the cave entrance, along with those of her boy and a foetus, whose bones were mixed with those of a
young pig. Her skull was broken with a stone, laid on a willow bier, saille eilitriom seilich, decorated
with lilies, cìrean, and red campion, coilich. The entire area was covered with earth. The remains of
a large number of sacrifical pigs, fed on rich foods, were found at the cave, indicating its importance as
a ritual site. Beinn an Dubhaich contains deposits of garnet, epigranite & uranium. The burn that
sculpted the cave system is nameless; Ken & I suggest Allt Challtuinn, Hazel Burn, or The Orphean
Burn, as possibilities. Martin Wildgoose described the sun penetrating over the hill at Imbolc (1st or
2nd February). Beinn na Caillich, Peak of the Crone; I have identified 2 other sites in Scotland where
there is a conjunction of Anaitis & Calliach, one above Loch Lyon, the other on Scoraig peninsula. This
poem was enriched by conversations with Caroline Dear, Martin Wildgoose, Meg Bateman & Ken
Cockburn.
photograph CD
poem & photograph AF
Ken Cockburn, The Orphean Burn
poem & photograph AF
today the golden bough
is a trapdoor
opening into a cleft
in which the burn
sings its cold songs
Orpheus returns
from the underworld
alone and shivering
bewildered in sunlight
to lose his loss
in a voice untamed
by birch and hazel
by oak and alder
deer and goat
curlew and eagle
and even the boar
deep in the forest dark
approach and gather
and lie down before him
charmed
trimeter, after Stevie Wonder
poem AF, photograph CD
inspired by Anaitis
we composed this litany of superstitions
during our stay at Kilbride
very superstitious
rowans round the dun
very superstitious
clouds fringed by the sun
very superstitious
a ring around the moon
very superstitious
wood-sorrel on the dùn
very superstitious
these vitrified remains
very superstitious
Anait’s secret springs
very superstitious
parked in a passing place
very superstitious
double-knotted lace
very superstitious
lichens on the wall
very superstitious
one fish in the well
very superstitious
three dogs and a cat
very superstitious
Gothic on the map
very superstitious
a raven overhead
very superstitious
scissors cut the thread
very superstitious
sheep graze on the beach
very superstitious
how far the spring-tides reach
very superstitious
rowan, hazel, birch
very superstitious
Brighid’s vanished church
very superstitious
pu-erh in the flask
very superstitious
questions left unasked
very superstitious
drinking pai-mu-tan
very superstitious
is the Cuillin sky or land?
very superstitious
lift these stones alone
very superstitious
High Pasture’s splintered bone
very superstitious
buried underground
very superstitious
waiting to be found
very superstitious
fragments of a lyre
very superstitious
the dance that spins you higher
very superstitious
hazel by the burn
very superstitious
bracken greens to fern
very superstitious
shielings on the moor
very superstitious
lintels on the floor
very superstitious
red buoy on the rocks
very superstitious
the reeds speak to the lochs
very superstitious
clear water of the pool
very superstitious
shallows drown a fool
very superstitious
shadows on the ridge
very superstitious
standing on the edge
(Ken Cockburn & Alec Finlay)
Camus Malag
word-mntn (Blà-bheinn & Garbh-beinn), poem & photograph AF
for seawards view, follow Allt na Leith-pheighinne
as it meanders from Kilbride in a vague bead,
through heath, myrtle & bog,
to find its salt end
the burn’s course trails past
the white gash of the Skye marble quarry;
absorbing all this geology
it's impossible to feel old
any longer
share Camus Malag with its flock of wiry sheep,
as you align Dùn Beag’s rocky point
with the crest of Garbh-bheinn,
& mark the path to Suisnish
there's a prospect south-west,
across the stour of Loch Slapin,
Strathaird & the scar of Ben Meabost,
to the Rúm Cuillin, resting on the lintel
of an epochal interval
travel your eyes from Barkaval, Hallival,
the ash pinnacle of Askival,
over Bealach an Oir to the twin tops
of Trollabhal
up Bealach an Fhuarain to Ainshval,
along the ridge to Sgùrr nan Gillean
& the hidden ending of Ruinsival
Allt na Leith-pheighinne, possibly ‘Burn of the Half Pennyland'. The moorland flora are heath,
feur monaidh, and myrtle, roid. Dùn Beag, Little Fort; other dùns on this coast are listed in the
guide to Dùn Liath. Translations of the mountains are given in the conspectus below; the bealachs
or passes on Rúm are Bealach an Oir, Golden pass or Pass of the Edge, and Bealach an Fhuarain,
possibly Pass of the Spring.
word-mntn (Beinn na Caillich), poem AF, photograph EN
Clach na h-Annait conspectus
This conspectus is composed from the names of some of the mountains that
are
visible from this location. The centre-point marks the location of Clach na h-Annait.
The typography represents the view as it is experienced by the human eye, giving an
The typography represents the view as it is experienced by the human eye, giving an
approximate impression of distance and scale. Mountain ridges are
indicated by
overlapping names. The gradation of hill slopes is suggested by
the use of grey-
scale, with the peak in black.
Click on this graphic to view the original and, if you wish,
print it out for use in
situ. A booklet containing all 14 conspectuses is available from ATLAS Arts. The
14 conspectuses have also been archived in an
album, indexed here. A complete
list of the mountains referred to in the Clach na h-Annait guide is given below,
with links from each one to its OS map. English translations have been given where
possible. A gallery of word-mntn drawings, including mountains visible from Clach
na h-Annait, can be found on the drawing page.
list of the mountains referred to in the Clach na h-Annait guide is given below,
with links from each one to its OS map. English translations have been given where
possible. A gallery of word-mntn drawings, including mountains visible from Clach
na h-Annait, can be found on the drawing page.
| Ainshval | Hill of the Stronghold |
| An Stòrr | The Big (One) |
| Askival | Peak of the Ash |
| Barkaval | Fell of Terraces |
| Beinn an Dubhaich | Mountain of Shades (?) |
| Beinn Dearg Mhòr | Big Red Mountain |
| Beinn na Caillich | Mountain of the Crone |
| Beinn Beillig | Birch Bark Mountain |
| Ben Meabost | Peak of Tulm |
| Blà-bheinn | Blue Mountain |
| Garbh Bheinn | Rough Mountain |
| Ruinsival | ? |
| Sgurr nan Gillean | Peak of the Lads |
| Trollabhal | Troll Peak |
contributors
Alec Finlay (AF)
with
Gavin Morrison
Ken Cockburn (KC)
Caroline Dear (CD)
Geoge Kozikowski
Emma Nicolson (EM)
Martin Wildgoose
Gaelic consultant
Maoilios Caimbeul
navigation
to view the next conspectus click here
to return to the map with links to all 14 guides click here
to read the project overview click here
to return to the map with links to all 14 guides click here
to read the project overview click here
for basic project information, including acknowledgements, click here
Còmhlan Bheanntan | A Company of Mountains
commissioned by ATLAS, Skye, 2012-13
http://atlasarts.org.uk/
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